Fri, 18 Sep 2009, 11:18 PM KJ Kicks Off Carolinas Nationals Qualivied in the No. 7 Spot

Courtesy of Jeff Romack

CONCORD, N.C. -- ACDelco's Kurt Johnson kicked off the NHRA Countdown to 1 race-off for the Full Throttle championship with two solid rounds of qualifying today at the 2nd annual Carolinas Nationals at zMax Dragway. Johnson's first shot out the blocks was good for a 6.668 e.t. at 207.69 mph, and he followed that up tonight with a 6.662-second run at 207.66 mph. That places the veteran competitor No. 7 on the qualifying ladder heading into Saturday's final two sessions.

"Looking at the sheet tonight we were No. 2 in speed to the eighth-mile," Johnson said, "and that wasn't even a good run. Like I've said before, I don't think we have a No. 1 car but we can have a No. 2 car pretty easily. The clutch was a little soft and threw us a curve there - the track got really good, but I'm confident we can pick it up tomorrow.

"When you can take what we had in Indy and move up about eight spots on the page at the eighth mile, that makes a big difference because we know we have the power under the hood - at least enough to run decent."

The No. 1 qualifier is Mike Edwards in the Young Life Pontiac. Edwards posted a 6.614 e.t. at 208.36 mph.

Qualifying coverage of the NHRA Carolinas Nationals can be seen on ESPN2 on Saturday, Sept. 19, beginning at 11:30 p.m. Eastern. Final eliminations coverage gets underway on Sunday, Sept. 20 with NHRA Race Day starting at 11 a.m., and then a three-hour telecast of final eliminations kicks off at 7 p.m. Eastern.

Press Releases: 10 Most Recent Entries [ top ]

Oct 28- LAS VEGAS - Alexis DeJoria Preview
Oct 28- LAS VEGAS - Ron Capps Motorsports Preview
Oct 28- LAS VEGAS - John Force Racing Preview
Oct 28- LAS VEGAS - Tony Stewart Racing Preview
Oct 28- LAS VEGAS - Spencer Hyde Preview
Oct 28- LAS VEGAS - Elite Motorsports Preview
Oct 28- LAS VEGAS - Kalitta Motorsports Preview
Oct 27- LAS VEGAS - Mopar Dodge Preview
Oct 27- LAS VEGAS - Terry Haddock Preview
Oct 27- LAS VEGAS - Jeff Arend Preview